LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas lawmakers were set to meet Friday morning to discuss whether to award a nearly $100 million contract to Solution Tree, a company that provides professional development for teachers. But that meeting was pulled and rescheduled for another date not yet announced.
In 2017, they signed a $4 million contract with the state of Arkansas and the Department of Education.
Now, the contract is set to be renewed, and the price tag is just a bit higher—over $99 million, according to the company.
State Sen. Dan Sullivan is one lawmaker who isn’t in favor of hiring Solution Tree.
Sullivan wants to use the money in other ways and let school districts choose their own professional development services.
He said taxpayer money shouldn’t be used like this and pointed to an independent evaluation to prove his point.
“[A] recent study by the University of Arkansas, who put in a significant amount of time and study, said there is no difference between the outcomes of schools who use Solution Tree and schools who did not use Solution Tree,” Sullivan said.
In an email sent to us, Solution Tree attached multiple memos claiming that schools participating in company programs showed improved scores compared to schools that didn’t.
Sullivan said the company has been hard at work making this case to lawmakers.
“I know Solution Tree is lobbying very hard,” Sullivan said. “I've talked to a number of senators who are being lobbied by Solution Tree.”
However, Sullivan said he hasn’t seen the data to support this and hopes to see it presented in the meeting on Friday.
“Maybe it'll be presented tomorrow," Sullivan said. "If it's not presented tomorrow in a very clear and concise way, I don't see how anyone can vote for this."
The meeting will take place at 9 a.m.